Delusional talk you might say, spoken by someone with more than a little self-interest in ultimate LAM domination. But the halls of SXSWi are full of conversations about “big data,” “cloud computing,” “web usability,” “search and access” and a host of other subjects that are squarely in the domain of today’s information professionals.

So what’s holding us back? Well, there are certainly stereotypes about LAMs that refuse to die.

I hope the professional organizations make it a serious priority to market the profession in a way that truly reflects the skills of its current practitioners to counteract the stereotype. But the truth is we’ll reinvent the profession by exploding those stereotypes one successful interaction at a time.

This is already happening in big ways. According to the 2006 Archival Census and Educational Needs Survey (A*Census), a “reported 61% of new hires within libraries belonging to the Association of Research Libraries were systems librarians and technologists.” These are new professionals comfortable with contemporary technology while remaining true to the service mission traditionally held by LAMs. Those numbers have almost certainly grown in the interim.

And changes have also happened because “library-type” jobs are in demand outside the confines of libraries themselves under titles like Digital Repository Manager, Data Curator, User Experience Designer, Emergent Technologies Librarian, Director of Digital Strategy, Open Source Evangelist and many more.

The NDSA is also engaging with the wider technical community through initiatives like the Google Summer of Code. NDIIPP and NDSA members have supported numerous projects that leverage contemporary technologies, such as the Open States smartphone app to access digital legislative data and the Duraspace effort to develop and improve open technologies that provide long-term, durable access to digital assets.

Do the folks at SXSWi know there are LAMs in their midst? Lions, more like it.

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